The present invention relates to continuous metal casting, especially steel, and more specifically to rolls for supporting and guiding the cast product downstream of the ingot mold.
Rolls of this type have a cylindrical body rotatable about an axis extending normal to the direction of movement of the casting and are placed with one of their generatrices in contact with the cast product to be rotated about their axes. The rolls are rotatably supported by ball bearings fastened to the frame of the casting machine.
Usually, these rolls are solid, however tubular rolls are also known, the interior of which is used to receive functional elements, for instance a cooling system within an envelop in contact with the cast product (DOS No. 1,809,471), or an elastic suspension system which permits the envelop to follow the transverse variations of the cast product (DAS No. 1,082,377), or an electromagnetic inductor assuring a stirring of the still liquid core of the casting (British Pat. No. 1,405,312).
It is therefore necessary to provide a fixed orientation of such internal functional elements with respect to the cast product during rotation of the envelop. In this case the roll comprises a central arbor, correspondingly equipped, and being supported at opposite ends by bearing surfaces in support cradles and held against rotation by a key or other appropriate means. The envelop surrounds the arbor radially spaced therefrom and is mounted freely rotatable thereon by any adequate means, for instance ball bearings, permitting the desired Kinematic uncoupling.
This Kinematic independence of the interior of the roll with regard to its envelop provides for various essential advantages, such as the absence of rotating electrical contacts, as conduating rings with contact bushes, when an electromagnetic inductor is placed into the roll (British Pat. No. 1,405,312), or in this case, the possibility to provide for the latter a yoke for the return of the magnetic flux in order to avoid a dispersion of the magnetic energy outside of the region of the space occupied by the cast product, or the absence of turning hydraulic joints for the passage of cooling water for the inductor or the envelop itself (DOS No. 1,809,471).